Good teams don't get manhandled by the Raiders

It took years, but the Chargers finally showed Los Angeles what it’s been missing. The Raiders.

The roster sheets may not show Oakland’s NFL team is better than San Diego’s, but the results, after Al Davis’ Pride and Poise boys took the Chargers out back for a 28-13 Sunday wood-shedding, say they are.

And, for the two games they played against San Diego this season — their first sweep since 2001 — there’s no question, top to bottom, on the field and on the sidelines, they were smarter. Hard to say when discussing the Raiders, but much smarter.

On both winning occasions, the first coming Oct. 10, the Raiders jumped on early mistakes and not only played within themselves, but with great knowledge of the Chargers’ weaknesses — which other opponents have failed to do — and head coach Norv Turner basically was powerless.

The sad thing is that we all know the Raiders still aren’t very good, so what’s that make the Chargers? Not very good. This team has lost to the Raiders twice, Kansas City, St. Louis, Seattle and, of course, New England, by far the best team it’s played (and the Pats aren’t great).

With the AFC West-leading Chiefs coming in here next Sunday, our lads are on the brink of playoff elimination and fortunate they aren’t completely out of it. A loss to K.C. would put the Chiefs up by three games with three to play, and the Chargers would be finished.

They’re just not very good. Good teams don’t get manhandled by the Raiders.

But Darren Sproles fumbled away a punt early, which the Raiders converted into a touchdown when quarterback Jason Campbell (who had lost his starting job), took a naked bootleg nine yards on a brilliant fourth-and-1 call with 8:35 remaining in the first quarter.

On the hosts’ ensuing possession, quarterback Philip Rivers tossed a horrible pass in the direction of receiver Malcom Floyd that was picked by safety Michael Huff. By the time the first quarter ended, Campbell found receiver Jacoby Ford in the end zone. It was 14-0, forcing Turner to desert any plans he had of running the football.

The Chargers rushed eight times for 21 yards. First-round draft choice Ryan Mathews, activated for his first game in weeks, got more rest for his sore ankle. He didn’t play a second. And the Chargers, after running all over the place recently, didn’t have one rushing first down. Extraordinary.

They now are 3-for 18 on third-down conversions over their past two games (3-for-10 Sunday, with two of the three successes coming via Raiders penalty). This offense has stalled. I don’t know. Seems to me, if you think you have a weapon in Mathews, you might find a way to use him, even if you are afraid for your quarterback.

“I wanted to play Ryan; he will play next week,” Turner said, intimating Mathews isn’t good enough in pass protection and wasn’t about to endanger Rivers any more than he was already endangered.